As conducive to an understanding of the invention and the want in the art which it satisfies, it is explained that in telephone-system parlance, a "frame" mounts all of the connection equipment for telephones serving a given area, as well as the connection equipment between buildings and other areas. In other words, the frame is the `locus` or component at which individual telephones in an area are connected via the connection equipment to give the dial tone when a telephone user wishes to make a call.
A typical "frame" usually comprises a series of superimposed horizonally extending elongate shelves (called planes), on one side of which is mounted a multiplicity of terminals, a particular one of which when a customer orders a telephone connected, is connected to a terminal on or near the other side or edge of the frame. In making this connection, the "frame man" (so called) lays on one of the shelves a pair of wires which in length may vary widely, say from 10 feet to 200 feet, or any length in between, and connects same to a terminal located on the other side or edge of the frame shelf.
When a customer requests a so-connected telephone to be disconnected, an order is eventually given to the frame man to disconnect the wire extending between the terminals on each side of the frame. It has happened frequently in the past that the frame man, upon disconnection having been effected, leaves the wire extending between the disconnected terminals in the frame in a non-used condition. The result is that on many frames the wires which are not in use are so numerous as to result in the frames in effect being "dead", a condition which in turn results in gross underutilization of the connection equipment previously served by the frame.
To salvage an existing "dead" frame, the multiplicity of disconnected wires must be pulled therefrom, but such poses a problem due to the fact that the job of manually pulling wires out of the frame is very tedious, tiring and time consuming, present estimates being that a man working on a steady 8-hour day basis, which is almost an impossibility, can pull only about 40 lbs. of wire in a day's time. The result of the foregoing is that no major effort is being made to pull the disconnected wire from the frame manually.
An earlier effort to develop a mechanical means for pulling disconnected wire as aforesaid from a "dead" frame was one embodying the Capstan principle. However, the Capstan simply multiplies the pull force which is applied to the end or "tail" of the wire and required that an operator must still be on hand, to gather it by hand. Thus,while requiring less effort than that required manually to pull the wire free of the frame shelf, the Capstan method proved to be not much faster than the manual-pull method and was abandoned for this and other various reasons.